Tenants in common help needed!

dandandan81

Thank you both for the advice. We have since emailed my the individual as to our intentions in such a way to 'sell it' to him as a viable and attractive offer that eliminates costs of high street estate agents. Hopefully this will lead to a negotiated agreement to have the house sold at a fair price where all parties walk away with the agreed % under the trust deeds.. Fundamentally this is what we all want, he is being particularly stubborn in wanting his 'friend' the estate agent to run the whole show (unfortunately this means really quick and really cheap sale, significantly affecting the other parties involved)

I do not want to go to court what so ever, and the cost is ridiculous. I did seek legal advice and was informed
a) do nothing and swallow having to pay his share of the mortgage for the next 12 years (not happy to do this, plus it prevents me moving on with my life AND the cheeky so and so can claim his full entitlement if the house is ever sold despite paying nothing!!)
b) negotiate and put the house up for sale (trying to achieve this!)
c) take out another mortgage/ borrow money to try and buy him out (financially crippling me)

Taking on a lodger just doesnt work for us unfortunately.
The reason this whole thing is such a mess is the individual is my brother whom in agreement with me agreed to help our mum out when she got divorced from my father. We took tenants in common agreement on a mortgage to keep the family home. Things turned bad with my brother, he moved out and stopped paying everything. My mum has a limited number of years to acquire a mortgage at a repayment level she could afford. Therefore she needs as much capital out of the house she has owned for nealry 30 years. He doesnt see it that way and is purposefully doing everything to either shift the house quickly or not negotiate in any reasonable way. I cant help despite earning a decent salary as Iv crippled myself with personal debt prior to the divorce happening. this is being paid off slowly but of course with my brother failing to meet his side of the mortgage, my debt is barely shifting.

a mess. and a ridiculously long post. apologies

propertyman

Does the trust deed not specify a remedy for resolving disputes... e.g. arbitration or appointment of an independant trustee.

dandandan81

Unfortunately not, the trust deed is actually really vague for this particular area. It details the split of the house and the financials but nothing about if someone does not pay/ significant disputes. Really very very frustrating as we thought we had all angles covered, just didnt see this coming at all. Lesson learned. massively

Fire_Fox

Small claims action in the county court for any missed payments up to a certain value is inexpensive and you can easily represent yourself. It's not court action like you imagine from the TV! Unless you are willing to take simply legal action like this you can't take anything off his share, it's only fair you both have your sides of the story heard.

dandandan81

Thanks Firefox, is it the case then that as he has not paid any % of the mortgage despite being on the trust deeds as an owner of the house with a share of ownership he could then be forced to pay what he has chosen not too? I accept the fact he wont be liable for council tax/utilities. I am also covering his life insurance (although at £12 p/month i think i will survive....)
Just want him to agree to sale! Surely cant be that hard!!!!!!